A British composer's ambitious quest to premier a requiem in the highly atmospheric Abney Park cemetery by lantern light.

Saturday, 9 March 2013

Help needed

I am dedicating today's blog to the search for funding for a very important project. Statistics tell me that around 100 people read this blog on a daily basis, and if every one of you were able to find just £10, we'd reach our target.

By the way, I should point out that I'm aware that even £10 is a lot for some people in this climate, so if you can't afford to donate, I fully understand. Simply pass the link on to someone who's having a decent recession!

On May 12th, the wonderful Rebel Chorus will be going into a recording studio to record Four Colours, a set of songs about love, which we're releasing as an EP for the Kaleidoscope Trust. It's a lovely set of songs scored for strings, piano and voices; classic Till and if we can find £1000 up front to pay for the recording studio and a set of reproductions, every penny we raise in sales will go to the charity. All performers are working for nothing.

The Kaleidoscope Trust are the UK's only charity who deal exclusively with homophobia on a global platform. They have the backing of all the major UK political parties and their president is John Bercow, speaker of the house.

We take equality for granted in this country, but we shouldn't.

Being gay is still illegal in 41 out of 54 Commonwealth Countries. In 10% of these, the punishment for repeat "sinners" is theoretically death. Women who enter relationships with other women are routinely raped in some areas. Gay men are whipped in Middle Eastern countries. LGBT people live in fear on a daily basis, and this is wholly unacceptable.

In my view, Kaleidoscope, have the right approach to changing hearts and minds. They don't bash people over the head; they try to understand where homophobia comes from and chip away at the issue very carefully. In many cases draconian laws are actually the result of British invasion in the 19th Century and so we have to take a degree of responsibility.

About Me

Composer and television director. Recent works include: A Symphony for Yorkshire (winner of 3 RTS Awards and a Prix de Circom), Tyne and Wear Metro: The Musical (winner of a Gillard award), The Pepys Motet, The London Requiem, Songs from Hattersley, A1: The Road Musical (nominated for a Grierson Award), Watford Gap: The Musical, Coventry Market: The Musical (nominated for a SONY award and recipient of two Gillard awards) and Oranges and Lemons, which features every bell in every London church mentioned in the nursery rhyme.